Category: Online Reputation

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Just Nancy – Why Reviews Matter

Hit the mark with your customers every time for great reviews.
Hit the mark with your customers every time for great reviews.

As a Google Local Guide, I review every place I visit and every place I eat. With over 300 reviews and photos uploaded to Google, I am just one of many who are helping Google index local businesses, build reviews and improve the accuracy of Google Maps.

Google does not pay me for these services, but I do receive special Google branded products and other perks for being a Google Local Guide.

Here’s what I’ve found out as I travel my local area.

  1. Reviews really do matter.
  2. People actually look at the photos I post for about a business.
  3. Negative reviews mean I probably won’t visit.
  4. I am constantly evaluating my store or restaurant experience.
  5. If I receive poor service, I will write about it.
  6. Even for lower end restaurants food presentation is important.
  7. People actually read what I post about a business.
  8. I do not tell business owners I am reviewing them.
  9. I myself select who I trade with based on online reviews.
  10. Reviews are more important than a nice website.

The bottom-line is that you are on display and being rated with every phone call, every visit, every plate that is served. You may have the best website, but if your visitors do not receive the royal treatment when they call or visit, you’ll set yourself up for a negative review. Get several and they can damage your business and sales!

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Looking for a Few Good Customers Who Want to Be Guinea Pigs

Guinea Pig
I’m Looking for a Few Guinea Pigs!

I’m looking for just a few guinea pigs for a service test that I am strongly considering for my business. And I am willing to discount my typical hourly rate for my test program to identify if what I feel can legitimately be done to boost reviews and remediate negative reviews works.

If you are a business owner who has been unfairly targeted by a competitor who has posted illegitimate reviews about your firm in order to boost there own placement please kindly consider giving me a call.

What I am considering doing is only totally legitimate – no bogus reviews, no hidden IP posting to Yelp.

Here’s what I am thinking of doing:

1. Create a website online review form and encourage your team to put this link at the bottom of all emails to solicit reviews that can be put on your own website coded with Google’s rich snippets.

2. Create a testimonials page on your website and house the top rated reviews there.

3. Set up a BlogSpot blog to showcase your online reviews as blog posts.

4. Call customers for you to solicit quotes that can be used in marketing on your behalf.

5. Monitor your online reputation to see if these website and off-site tactics help to remediate a reputation problem.

I won’t take all comers and will be selective over who I take on in this test and I’ll drop my hourly rate for these services by 20% for this limited test. You will need to allow us to use your results in our next whitepaper is you are selected as a test candidate.

If you think you’d like to be one of our test subjects, please send me an email.